Measures for the very Elderly

§
The old person's pension provided under the National Insurance Act, 1970,
1500
for people who could not become insured in 1948 will rise from £3 for a single person and £1.85 for a wife to £3.60 and £2.20 respectively. Similar pensions, at the new rate, will be paid subject to a residence test to all persons over 80, who failed to qualify for a pension or who qualify for one at a lower rate, and to those who subsequently attain that age.

§
We are concerned about the very old. We propose to increase the uprated pensions of all persons over 80, including the recipients of old person's pensions, by an addition of 25p. Thus, with full standard pension, a single pensioner will get £6.25 and a married couple will get £9.95 if one of the couple is over 80 and £10.20 if both are over 80. There are some 1.2 million people over 80, of whom about two-thirds will receive the increase. The remainder are supplementary pensioners, and there will be an increase of 25p in the long-term addition where the pensioner or his dependant is over 80.